LONDON (UK) – Journalist and television presenter Piers Morgan stepped out of his high-profile breakfast slot with the broadcaster ITV on Tuesday. This exit comes in the wake of his long-running criticism of Prince Harry’s wife Meghan reaching its highest point over the couple’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.
ITV confirmed the departure in a statement, which was found to be terse.
Morgan, 55, a former presenter on CNN, has alleged that the couple were damaging the royal family and were on a pursuit of publicity on their own terms without coming to terms with the responsibility and scrutiny that come with their position.
Morgan dubbed Meghan “Princess Pinocchio” in a tweet, and said on Monday that he did not “believe a word she said” in the interview.
Meghan’s allegations have prompted questions about the future of the monarchy.
Morgan’s comments led to more than 41,000 complaints to Britain’s media regulator, which ordered a probe on the same under its “harm and offence” rules.
Morgan, who has garnered 7.7 million followers on the platform, posted a ticking clock a few hours before ITV’s statement.
Carolyn McCall, the chief executive of ITV, had said earlier that she believed Meghan “completely”.
Morgan did qualify his original comments on Tuesday, saying:
“I still have serious concerns about the veracity of a lot of what she (Meghan) said, but let me just state for the record about my position on mental illness and on suicide.
“They should be taken extremely seriously and if someone is feeling that way they should get the treatment and help that they need every time, and if they belong to an institution like the royal family and they go and seek that help they should absolutely be given it.”
Morgan joined ITV six years ago, bringing to British breakfast television an interrogation with no restraints.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he has put pressure recurrently on the government to explain why Britain has one of the highest death rates in the world. Ministers, however, boycotted the show for months.
